When Life Grants Your Wish
by Tacolady22
Summary: Percy needed her. Every second was driving him to a brink of madness that not even Dionysus could cure. When would life finally grant his wish. POST-TARTURUS AU. ONE-SHOT.


If Percy could, he'd kill himself.

He left Annabeth alone. He left her in Tartarus. He left her to die! He didn't even know what happened the last few moments in Tartarus but if he could, he'd go back and redo them so that Annabeth wasn't left behind.

It had been one month since escaping Tartarus and killing Gaea. Of course when fighting with the gods, Athena hadn't been present seeing as her own daughter had been killed by her boyfriend. Of course, Grover and everyone else had told him it wasn't his fault that Annabeth died. But Percy knew better.

He told her that they'd always be together. But merely 9 days after that, she had died. Whether in the hands of Tartarus in a physical form or from other monsters that were after their blood, he didn't know.

"Percy?" a voice startled him out of his thoughts. He blinked his eyes open and slowly sat up on the queen sized bed. Turning his gaze to the voice, he was surprised to see Piper standing outside of his cabin. He took one look at her and flopped back down onto his bed.

"Go away Piper," he mumbled out.

"Percy, you missed breakfast. Again. You've only eaten small snacks these days." she calmly explained to him. He heard footsteps coming closer to him. Lazily opening one eye, he saw her eyes had turned into a stormy blue with a tint of gray in them.

Gray. Now all he could remember was her gray eyes. Pale gray on most days but they could turn into a stormy color at times she felt angry or was thinking of some genius master plan that usually involved in a chance of them dying. But Percy had seen the times when her eyes could turn into a mix of blue and gray when she was feeling happiest. Most of the time that was because of him.

"Need to go out," Piper's voice turning from a soothing voice he'd use on a little kid to her regular voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"What was that Piper?" he asked. He knew she was getting a little frustrated at him but he couldn't help it.

"I was telling you to get outside and at least go to the lake. You've always thought better when you're out there. At least that's what Anna-" she gasped at this and looked the last part.

Percy winced at hearing her name out loud. Standing up, he pushed Piper away and stumbled out of his cabin like a drunken man.

When his face stepped out into the sun, he was surprised at how bright the day was. But then again, his cabin was so dark these days it could've given the Hades cabin a run for their drachmas in a darkest cabin contest. Wincing at the sunlight, he sobered up and was able to walk without looking like he was about to trip every two minutes.

He looked around at his surroundings. Seeing a poster hanging off the mess halls with the words "Camp Half-Blood" on it in orange. "That must be new," he thought aloud. Ignoring the stares from the newer campers, he walked to the lake. He had to unfortunately pass the Athena cabin. He refused to look at the gray building for fear of seeing any of Annabeth's siblings. He passed the Big Hall where he met Annabeth officially for the first time. This was bad. Everything around here was bad. Everything here was full of Annabeth. Annabeth was all he could see. Annabeth was all he could hear. Annabeth wasn't here. Annabeth was dead. Breathing heavily, he clutched his chest and looked around him frantically like a madman.

Percy couldn't stay here anymore. Not when Annabeth and him had made memories here. He couldn't go to the lake. Not when he kissed her sinfully red lips underwater so many times. This is why he didn't want to go outside at all. Normally, he could have walked outside and only felt despair but this….this was hell. No, worse than that. He should know.

Somehow, he felt his feet stumble forward in front of each other and picking up the pace. Some time passed. Percy honestly didn't know or care how much had. But it clicked in his mind that he was running away. Away from Camp. Away from all the memories that were once so happy, but were now crushing him. He was finding it difficult to breath. He could see the forest coming up and Jason calling him. Ignoring the latter, he ran through the trees and kept on going. Brushing past the stray branches that came his way and the roots on the moss covered, uneven ground. He could see the blue tint of the barrier coming up. Once he passed it, he'd be fair game to any monster that wanted to eat him. His ADH's adrenaline coming through him at the last minute, he jumped past the barrier but slipped on his landing. He felt his leg buckle under him and he felt it all fall down like dominoes.

First his body fell down onto the ground. Then his face. As he rolled down the hill. he felt the adrenaline leave him. Finally stopping at the bottom of the hill, he rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky. Outside of the weather regulated barrier in Camp Half-Blood, he saw that a storm was coming. Only now, after the adrenaline left him did Percy realize that his lungs weren't going to work the way that they used to. Gasping for breath, he cursed mentally at his body's deterioration.

Percy still had to move. He had to leave the Camp. This thought fueling his mind, he felt himself sluggishly moving like one of Nico's zombies away from Camp. He smelt the sharp smell of rain the more he walked. He knew it was going to rain but he didn't really care. He didn't know how far he walked. He just didn't stop again until he reached a road and couldn't see the hill anymore.

Walking like this with no real destination forced Percy's mind to wander back to when he snuck along on the trip to save Artemis from the Titan's trap. Of course, Percy didn't go to save Artemis, he was more worried about Annabeth who had been used as bait for the goddess. He remembered all the dreams he had gotten about Annabeth being tortured with holding the weight of the sky. He never bothered to ask her how long she had to hold the sky. He had to hold it for not even minutes but he almost died. But Annabeth had to hold it for at least a day. She never ceased to amaze him. She always saved his life anytime he was in a pinch. He loved her soft curls that smelled like lemon anytime she allowed him to hug her. He loved the way her lips twitched into a smile every time she called him "seaweed brain."

A young girl's scream brought him out of his thoughts. Looking around, he heard it again. Pinpointing the scream to the right of him, he saw a flash of blonde hair hit the ground. His heart fluttered in his chest before his brain realized that there was no way it would ever be Annabeth. His curiosity was piqued until he saw a large, hulking figure stomp toward the girl. His mind immediately hard-wired to fight monster looking creatures forced his body to run to the girl that looked so much like his dead lover.

Reaching the girl, he took out Riptide from his pocket and uncapping it, he held it in front of him, shielding the girl from the monster. Percy had to crane his head up to even see that monster's face from his height. Looking up, he could tell that it was a Cyclops that he had decided to be an impediment to.

"Get out of here girl. There's a hill a little in the direction I was walking away from. Go up it and tell them Percy Jackson sent you." he said. The now angered cyclops swung his fist down. Instinctively, Percy leapt back. Taking the girl's hand, he ran away from the fist shaped crater in the Earth. Cyclops weren't known for being that smart so Percy was able to get quite some distance between the two of them. Once he reached the bottom of the hill, he stopped and looked down at the girl.

He barely heard the gentle patter of rain fall down on his head when he looked into the girl's face.

Curly blonde hair framed her face like a princess. Pale skin showed slight freckles that dotted her cheekbones and nose. But what startled him was the intensity of her stormy gray eyes. It looked just like they met. Him and..

"Annabeth?" he gasped out. The girl leaned away and looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"I'm sorry, who?" she questioned him. Percy shook his head. _Crap, now I'm going insane. For sure. This isn't a joke. Annabeth isn't alive. Annabeth is dead because of me._

"Sorry, ignore that. Listen kid, you see that hill up there?" he pointed to the hill where he could see people-was that Jason?-coming out of the barrier. The girl nodded. "I need you to go to up there and talk to the people that are coming from there. Understand?" The girl had barely nodded when Percy heard the loud stomps of the cyclops's footsteps. Turning around, he raised Riptide above him to block the sword the cyclops held against him. Percy's feet sunk into the now wet mud from the sheer force of the swing. Grunting, he maneuvered around the sword to escape the position. Now holding Riptide with both his hands, he felt the 3-foot celestial bronze sword grow heavy in his hands. Feeling his strength wane, he turned his head to throw his voice over his shoulder,

"Run kid! Hurry up!" he shouted. Instead of a reply, he felt a piercing sensation in the left side of his chest and looked down to see a claw sprout from his chest. Looking back in horror, Percy saw that the girl had morphed into the snarling face of an Empousai. He heard someone scream his name before losing conscious.

* * *

Opening his eyes, he realized he was in the Underworld. Had he died? What was going to happen to him? He breezed through the formalities that lasted less than 10 minutes. He faintly heard something about being granted access into Elysium. All of a sudden, he was thrust into a room with no light. He didn't know if it was a dream or if it really was real. Everything was too dark. But, if he was granted Elysium, then wouldn't he be able to see…

A creaking door made Percy look up and his heart stopped again. There she was. His soul mate. "Annabeth?" his heart squeezed and his breaths came out in gulps and gasps. He knew he probably looked like a baby, but he didn't really care. "Is this….is it really you?" he quivered out. She walked up towards him and slapped him.

If he was dead shouldn't he not be able to feel that? Maybe it was because both of them were dead. But why'd she slap him?

"Stupid seaweed brain! Do you have any idea how angry I was seeing you like that!" she shouted at him. Taking a shuddering breath, Percy felt his lips turn into a smile. His jaws hurt from that simple movement. He grabbed her face and brought it up to his for a slow kiss.

 _This isn't a dream._ That much at least Percy understood. Breaking away from the kiss, he felt Annabeth smile. From under his half-lidded gaze, he saw her push his chest slightly away from her.

"Come with me Percy. I've been waiting." Annabeth smiled, keeping her hand in front of him to take. Percy smiled gratefully and held a tight grip on her hand.

"I'll follow you anywhere Wise Girl. I'm not leaving you again ever. I mean it this time."

* * *

 _Yea funny story, this was an assignment for Language Arts god knows how long ago. I found it while cleaning up my laptop and thought I should let you all have fun with it :)_

 _Yes this is an "Annabeth's dead AU"; Yes, re-reading the series I semi-believe that Percy would act the way he did in this if Annabeth truly died; and yes, the ending is like that for a reason._

 _I hope you enjoyed this (or cried at this like many of my friends did) and leave a review if you feel like my writing could be improved on somehow._

 _Reviews make the world a better place ;)_


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